Aeroplane-wing



W. E. KNOELL.

AEROPLANE WING. v APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 7, 1920.

153530,563, y ratendsept. 13,1921.-

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WALTER E. KNOELL, OF TACOMA, WASHINGTQN.

AEROPLANE-WING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 13, 1921.

Application filed September 7, 1920. Serial No, 408,717. f

To all whom t my concern.'

Be it known that I, WALTER E. KNoELL, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Tacoma, county of Pierce, State of Washington, have invented a new and useful aeroplane-Wing, of which the following is,

a s cification.

his invention relates to improvements in aeroplane wings or supporting planes, and has for its principal object to produce an aeroplane having wings supported entirely by wing supports extending from the fuselage, and with said wing supports positioned within the wings in such a manner es to obviate the necessity of the use of struts and guy wires. Y

it is a well known fact that in the present types of aeroplanes where the wings are supported by struts and y wires, resistance in the same is considerable, and the elimination of these exposed parts will result in an increase in speed and at the same time the danger of breakage is eliminated.

Another object is to construct an aeroplane in such a manner that the wing stress incident to dying will be transferred so that the leverage with respect to the'fuselage is decreased b the transfer of the stress.

@ther objects and advantages will be seen as the description proceeds. y l

in the -accompanying drawing, which illustrates the salient kfeatures of the principle involved, Figure 1 is a fragmentary view of a portion of an aeroplane illustrating the application of the invention, Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a front plan view of an aeroplane as equip construction, and ig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of a bi-plane also employing the present wing construction.

1n the drawings, like numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.

1t is well known that Ithe strain' at the point where the usual wing of an aeroplane is attached to the fuselage is considerable, especially during the flight, where sudden turnings are executed, and many fatal accidents have occurred through the failure of the wing at this oint.

By referring to that the numeral 5 designates a fuselage of an ordinary aeroplane. This fuselage is ed with the present wingl ig. 1, it will be noted the ground by the usual landing gear as here ind-icated by an axle 6 having a wheel 7. The landing gear, however, is immaterial to the present invention and the same also applies to the general arrangement of the fuselage.

The numerals 8 and 9 designate wing su ports attached to and passing through t e fuselage as shown in F lgs. wing supports are preferably slightly tapered toward their extremities, the tapered ends being shown at 11 and 12.

in order to further strengthen these win supported from supports l have shown in dotted line the which extends from 'a point point substantially tension cable 13 within the fuselage to a two-thirds of the lengthof the wing supports. The use of tension members of this character is well 'known and needs no further comment.4

The numerals 14, 16, 17 and 18 refer to win beams, which extend from the sides of t e fuselage as shown at 19 and 20 to points 21 and 22. It will Ibe noted that these beams parallel the wing supports 8 and 9 for a distance substantlally half their length and then converge and are joined together. Caps 2 3 and 24 are placed above and below these beams 14, 16, 17 and 18 at a, point adjacent the ends of the Wing supports 1l and 12. The' held together by bolts 25 and 26, the same also serving to keep the beams inl alinement, as shown in Fig. 3. It will be noted from this igurethat the beams 14 and 16 are of greater width than the wing support 8 with the result that an independent up and down flexing of these members is allowed between the ca 23 and hinge membersl 41 and 42. These eams support the usual ribs 27, and suitable guy wires 28 serve to make up the wing structure which, of course, is covered with a suitable fabric as shown at 29.

By referring to Fig. 4, it will readily be seen how the wings of each side of the mase caps are securely4 l'and 2. These numerals 32 and 33 the upper and lower wing surfaces. This view illustrates the entire absence of struts and guy wires, using a wing support as outlined above.

The theory of the above outlined disclosure may be related as follows:

When the machine is upon the ground, the

' weight of the wings will be upon the upper against the under sides of the wing support points.

ends l1 and l2,i thereby transmitting all of the lifting foroegfrom the wing to th1s short wing support which Ain turn transmits the lifting power to the fuselage.

ln some respects it may be desirable to design the wings in such a manner that the lifting pressure in the portions A and B of the wings will be equal. This, however, is not an essential'point, as -it might be preferable to have a greater pressure along either of these portions. A greater pressure 'along B of the wing would cause an upward pressure of the beams at the coupling points, thus relieving ysome of 'the pressure on the wing supports at their extremities. A greater pressure along A would cause a downward pressure ol beams at coupling From the above it will be seen that all head resistance common to struts and guy wires has been eliminated, and at the same time l ,have retained the useful flexibility of the wing, which is of great value in flying. This flexibility also allows the absorpextended beams, and secured to ytheir tips tion of sudden strains without the tendency of snapping.. f

Having described my invention, what l claim as new and novel is:

l. fn an aeroplane9 a fuselage, two beams mounted in said fuselage extending to both at approximately the center of gravity of said wings.

2. ln an aeroplane, a fuselage, two beams mounted in said fuselage extending to both sides of the same, two wings inclosing said extended beams and exibly secured to their tips at approximately the center of gravity of said wings.

3. ln an aeroplane, a fuselage, two beams supported in said fuselage extending to both sides of the same, two wings, eachl having two pairs of beams therein, each pair of beams adapted to inclose one of said extended beams, means for securing said pairs of beam-s to the tips of the single beams at approximately the center of gravity of said wings. 'l

4f. ,ln an aeroplane, a fuselage, a wing supported on two pairs of beams, two single beams extending from the fuselage and firmly secured thereto, each pair of beams adapted to receive and inclose one of said single beams and to be secured to the tips of said beams at approximately the center of gravity of said pair of beams.

5. ln an aeroplane, a fuselage, two pairs of beams, a wing supported thereon, two single beams extending from the fuselage and firmly secured thereto, each pair of beams adapted to receive and inclose one of said single beams and to be clamped to the tips of said beams at approximately its center of gravity, the clamping means adapted to allow of a slight vertical motion of said pairs of beams with reference to the single beams.

v6. 'ln a device of the character described, the combination of an aeroplane having'- a fuselage, parallel wing supports rigidly securedto said fuselage and extending outwardly therefrom, parallel wing beams mounted adjacent rvto each of said wing supports and extending outwardly from said fuselage a distance substantially twice that of said supports, caps attached to said beams and straddling the ends of said supports, said caps being capable of transferring any wing stresses from said beams to said supports.

sides of the same, two wings inclosing said WALTER E. KNOELL. 

